szukalski
Well-known member
This is a fun build which is based on the Blue Pilot by dylan159 over at FSB.
That is an attempt to re-engineer the Blues Driver to be simpler and cheaper to build, using IC op-amps instead of a discrete op-amp configuration, and common parts. There are a few of these projects and they're all really fun to experiment with or to use as a base for further modding.
I bread-boarded this before doing the PCB design, and found that splitting the dual A100K into separate pots resulted in a more useful pedal. Plus you don't need to bother with a dual pot! I tried a bunch of diode clipping options but there wasn't anything which made any impact on the timbre in a useful way.
Build-wise, it's pretty simple. Nothing which could trip you up, though I did forget to solder two legs from a couple of resistors which threw me off for a few minutes.
Sound-wise, it sounds like a Blues Driver built using IC op-amps! I love stacking low-med gain pedals together but find that pedals with transistor boost stages colour the tone and raise the noise level, so the Blue Sheep is great for this! The split boost and gain stages are also useful, you can crank it or use it as a dirty boost, or in between..
I'm really happy with how the pedal theme worked out, the photos may not be great, but the result is what I was envisioning. Simple and functional.
Leaving the best to last.. the schematic is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which means you can reuse it as long as you attribute it and reshare. So I am resharing it here! You will find the schematic and gerber for the PCB! If you like it, let me know!
That is an attempt to re-engineer the Blues Driver to be simpler and cheaper to build, using IC op-amps instead of a discrete op-amp configuration, and common parts. There are a few of these projects and they're all really fun to experiment with or to use as a base for further modding.
I bread-boarded this before doing the PCB design, and found that splitting the dual A100K into separate pots resulted in a more useful pedal. Plus you don't need to bother with a dual pot! I tried a bunch of diode clipping options but there wasn't anything which made any impact on the timbre in a useful way.
Build-wise, it's pretty simple. Nothing which could trip you up, though I did forget to solder two legs from a couple of resistors which threw me off for a few minutes.
Sound-wise, it sounds like a Blues Driver built using IC op-amps! I love stacking low-med gain pedals together but find that pedals with transistor boost stages colour the tone and raise the noise level, so the Blue Sheep is great for this! The split boost and gain stages are also useful, you can crank it or use it as a dirty boost, or in between..
I'm really happy with how the pedal theme worked out, the photos may not be great, but the result is what I was envisioning. Simple and functional.
Leaving the best to last.. the schematic is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which means you can reuse it as long as you attribute it and reshare. So I am resharing it here! You will find the schematic and gerber for the PCB! If you like it, let me know!
